Cheney gave an order to shoot down any aircraft on 9/11 contrary to what the 9/11 Commission Report was left to believe. The order was still given way too late, but more importantly is who it was given by. It would be illegal for the military to listen to the VP for a shootdown order because only the President and Sec. of Def. Rumsfeld had the legal ability. Our military followed protocol. The importance comes because it is most likely that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld knew this would be the case, and planned it to be such. Bush and Rumsfeld were impossible to be found or contacted in the critical moments where they might have stopped the 9/11 attacks…..where is the media folks? This story does not get to the meat of the matter. – Brian @ Nor Cal

Newly published audio this week reveals that Vice President Dick Cheney’s infamous Sept. 11, 2001 order to shoot down rogue civilian aircraft was ignored by military officials, who instead ordered pilots to only identify suspect aircraft.

That revelation is one of many in newly released audio recordings compiled by investigators for the 9/11 Commission, published this week by The Rutgers Law Review. Featuring voices from employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and American Airlines, the newly released multimedia provides a glimpse at the chaos that emerged as the attack progressed.

Most striking of all is the revelation that an order by Vice President Dick Cheney was ignored by the military, which saw his order to shoot down aircraft as outside the chain of command. Instead of acknowledging the order to shoot down civilian aircraft and carrying it out, NORAD ordered fighters to confirm aircraft tail numbers first and report back for further instructions.

Cheney’s order was given at “about 10:15″ a.m., according to the former VP’s memoirs, but the 9/11 Commission Report shows United flight 93 going down at 10:06 a.m. Had the military followed Cheney’s order, civilian aircraft scrambling to get out of the sky could have been shot down, exponentially amplifying the day’s tragedy.

Wingless and its bubble cockpit covered with white cloth, the first jet fighter that was scrambled during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks arrived Tuesday at the Sonoma County airport, where it will become the centerpiece of a 9/11 memorial.

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The Obama administration plans to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, on top of a record request for $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned.

The administration’s Quadrennial Defense Review, the main articulation of U.S. military doctrine, is due to Congress on Feb. 1. Top military commanders were briefed on the document at the Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday. They also received a preview of the administration’s budget plans through 2015.

The four-year review outlines six key mission areas and spells out capabilities and goals the Pentagon wants to develop. The pilotless drones used for surveillance and attack missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan are a priority, with a goal of speeding up the purchase of new Reaper drones and expansion of Predator and Reaper drone flights through 2013.

With overwhelming bipartisan support, the United States House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a massive $636 billion military appropriations bill for 2010.

The bill includes some $128 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it does not fully fund the Obama administration’s escalation in Afghanistan, making likely further appropriations for war spending next year.

The deployment of 30,000 additional US troops is expected to cost $35 to $40 billion a year. On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that the first of the new troops ordered to Afghanistan have begun to arrive.

Iran is to test a new anti-aircraft defense system during a five-day aerial maneuver, the Iranian defense minister has said.

The large-scale maneuver, which was launched on Sunday, is mainly aimed at developing the country’s aerial defenses against any potential attack on the country’s nuclear plants. Read the rest of this entry »